


When Family Gathers

by runsoftbin



Series: Excerpts: When We're Here [6]
Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Fluff, Good Things Only, M/M, Maybe failed, Self-Indulgent, attempt at fluff, here is your food, i am not cruel, read this, this is good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:54:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23741881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runsoftbin/pseuds/runsoftbin
Summary: “You don’t know? Since Hanbin came into this family you’re not our maknae anymore. He is.”
Relationships: Kim Hanbin | B.I/Kim Jiwon | Bobby
Series: Excerpts: When We're Here [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1353796
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	When Family Gathers

**Author's Note:**

> Here it comes, a 4.5K words of self indulgence.  
> Enjoy!

Read the mother fic, [I Was There.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15477996/chapters/35930514)

* * *

“Yes, yes, that’s how you do it. You have to make sure all the leaves are covered with the seasoning, and then you fold it like this,” their mother demonstrates how to fold the cabbage leaves that she just marinated, “…and you store it in the container, like this.”

And Jiwon almost laughs at how serious Hanbin looks right now—not to mention his sister in law’s pink apron on him, with plastic gloves holding a large marinated cabbage. He diligently follows their mother’s instruction on how to make kimchi according to their family’s recipe.

Both Hanbin and their mother each have a big plastic basin in front of them, filled with so many cabbages, cucumber, and radish, as well as the kimchi seasonings that Hanbin had tried to mix as what their mother instructed. They are sitting on the floor in some sort of triangle formation, and the kitchen now is already very very messy.

“Jiwon, cut the cucumber properly, look at it… Oh my God… Look at your messy cuts.”

As usual, everything needs to be neat and perfect for their mother, especially in cooking. She really always criticizes Jiwon’s knife skill, even in cutting simple things like cucumber.

“He’s always like that, Ma. When he cooks _sundubu jiggae_ in our house, he always just put the whole _dubu_ without slicing it. He said like, we are gonna chew them anyway, why bother slicing. He’s so lazy.”

Jiwon exaggerates a shocked expression, as he looks at Hanbin who really just said that without any care in the world—still busy rubbing the kimchi seasonings on the cabbage leaves. He always does this, telling on him to their mother. Hanbin always snitches and tells their mother all the messy things Jiwon had done, and it gets worse while they are meeting like this compared to being in phone calls.

“Hanbin! Don’t snitch!”

“…and, he’s still alwaaaays, always lost things. When he arrives home, he throws the key wherever he wants to. One time, it got lost that we couldn’t even use our car for two days.”

_Wow,_ Jiwon cannot believe Hanbin still brings that up.

“In my defense, Soseji played with it and hide it. Wasn’t my fault.”

Hanbin just continues to meticulously fold the cabbages and put it inside the big square container.

“…and he always blames Soseji.”

“He’s lying Ma!”

And when Jiwon looks at their mother to seek some sort of moral support, she is laughing and it clearly isn’t a laugh for Jiwon’s benefit.

“I know, he’s always messy like his father.” She said, while still laughing.

Oh God, now their mother is joining the attack on Jiwon party. It’s a good thing that his brother and sister in law are now out with their son, because if they are here they would really join force to bully Jiwon. Usually by telling Hanbin embarrassing stories of their childhood—and when Jiwon thinks that there is nothing that Hanbin hasn’t known already, there are always more embarrassing memories of him to tell.

But even though Jiwon is fake sulking and continues to diligently slice the cucumber, he still notices how Hanbin is laughing with their mother—the kind of laugh which makes one of his eyes gets smaller, and his dimples are showing. He is trying to wipe his sweat with the sleeve of his T-shirt because both his hands are full of seasonings—Jiwon also notices that his hair is already slightly long and they get into his eyes sometimes.

“Here! I already sliced all of the cucumbers.” Jiwon said, finally done with the knife so he discards the plastic glove on his left hand and goes to the sink to wash his hands. He needs to walk past Hanbin and their mother to reach the wastafel, and somehow both are still lightly laughing while still busy arranging the fresh kimchi.

“Look Ma, Ji is sulking,”

“I’m not!!!” Jiwon half shouts when he is washing his hands—but he knows both of them have their fun.

When he finishes cleaning his hands, Jiwon walks towards the fridge, knowing well how his sister in law always have hair bands laying around on top of it somewhere. He can find one small pink hairband with a little bow and cannot help but laugh at what he was about to do.

But when he walks back to the kimchi-making area, he can see from afar that their mother is feeding a slice of a very red-looking cabbage kimchi to Hanbin, which he just obediently chews. Jiwon’s eyes immediately widen when he can see that Hanbin is holding back a cough, looking red already as he chews on the kimchi in his mouth.

“Oh no, no, Ma…!” Jiwon hurriedly runs towards Hanbin who then looks at him with teary eyes, cannot even continue chewing.

“Spit it out, don’t eat it, it’s okay.” Jiwon then grabs some tissue and raises his hand near Hanbin’s mouth, but the latter is just looking at him with eyebrows furrowed and eyes wet.

Hanbin just stubbornly continue chewing, even though it looks like he is about to cry. Jiwon knows he must be determined just to chew and swallow the piece that had entered his mouth—probably thinking it’s rude and gross to spit it out in front of his mother in law. So then Jiwon just wipes the remaining red sauce on his mouth, shaking his head a little.

“What, why? What happened?” their mother said, already looking a little bit concerned. Hanbin just looks at her and waves his hand, trying to tell her that he is all okay.

“Ma, it is too spicy for Bin.” Jiwon said, looking at the kimchi in their mother’s basin, which she made spicy just like how he and his brother like it.

“Ohhh I forgot, oh my God, Binnie are you okay?”

Hanbin then swallows the kimchi in his mouth and immediately inhales as much air as possible to help ease the spiciness.

“Ith—okhay, Ma.” He said—but it would be more believable if he isn’t tearing up while saying it.

“Are you sure?” she asks again, and Hanbin cannot even close his mouth. He just nods eagerly as Jiwon wipes his sweat too. If Hanbin isn’t shedding tears for real, Jiwon would have laughed out loud looking at his funny face. But he also knows that spicy foods make Hanbin’s tongue and throat hurts, so he just holds his laugh—or he would get hit. Hanbin always hits really strongly.

“Wait here,” Jiwon said, running to the fridge again and taking a milk carton. He fills medium-sized glass and pours the milk only about half of it. “Here, have some milk.”

Jiwon then helps Hanbin to drink because both of his hands are still wearing the plastic gloves, deep in the basin and soaked with kimchi juice. Jiwon cannot help but laugh when Hanbin really just drinks the milk very quickly, and somehow seems to still feel the spiciness even when he finishes the milk.

“Dummy,” Jiwon laughs as he wipes Hanbin’s lips, “…could have spitted it out.”

“But I wanna know how it tastes like.”

“So, how does it taste like?”

“Spicy.” Hanbin’s furrows his eyebrows like he is gonna cry and Jiwon still doesn’t know how a grown man looks this cute—or it’s just him who is whipped.

“Give me more milk,” he said.

“Nah,” Jiwon shakes his head, “…you can’t drink too much of it.” Jiwon then proceeds to tie Hanbin’s hair apple style with the pink hair band, so it doesn’t get into his eyes when he works. The latter doesn’t even protest or say anything, but Jiwon laughs when he looks at how cute Hanbin is in this hairstyle.

“Aww aren’t you cute!”

“Don’t laugh! Do you know what a kimchi slap is?”

“…no?”

“Well, that’s what you are going to get if you keep laughing at me.”

“Ma, do you see this???” Jiwon then dramatically scoots closer to their mother, trying to play like a victim, “…he always does that! Threatening me with violence!”

“You both are just like your brother and sister in law. This house would be so noisy in the next few days.” Their mother said, but with a warm smile. Jiwon then leans his head on her shoulder like the spoiled child he is. From the corner of his eyes, he can see Hanbin letting out a mocking laugh. He looks cute with the apple hair, though.

.

.

.

“UNCLE!!!”

A four year old boy throws his backpack away and then runs towards Jiwon with full speed—and Jiwon gladly welcomes him in his embrace, lifting him up to sit on one of his shoulders.

“Hey big boy!” It’s crazy how fast baby grows, really, “…how’s your taekwondo exam?”

“Good!!!” the little boy said, “I’m the best like my Appa.”

“Oh, really?” Jiwon said, exaggerating his expression, “…you must be better than him. I heard you came the first in your class?”

“As long as he’s not like his uncle. Remember you always cried when you lost? Appa needed to buy you a fake trophy so you stop crying.” His brother said as he helps bringing groceries to the kitchen.

Jiwon then put his nephew down and closes his ears with both of his hands, “Hyung NOT in front of him!”

His brother only laughs when he heard Jiwon whining, looking satisfied.

“Really, Hyung?!!” Hanbin shouts from the living room. He’s always so excited when something embarrassing from Jiwon’s past is being revealed.

“I think there are pictures somewhere if you want to see.” His sister in law said as she is arranging stuff in the fridge.

“Noona, not you too!”

She laughs then, finding Jiwon sulking very amusing, just like the rest of the family.

“I wanna see! Pleaaase, Noona, can I see?”

Both their brother and sister in law are laughing, like they haven’t really embarrassed Jiwon enough in family gathering like this.

“It’s somewhere around that drawer beside the TV, you can look there.”

With a loud cheer, Hanbin then runs towards the said location and begins rummaging inside of it.

“Raona! You wanna see little uncle Jiwon??” he said, and the little boy who was standing beside Jiwon really just runs to Hanbin, mirroring each other’s excitement.

“FOUND IT YEAYYYY!”

And Jiwon just sits there in the living room, across Hanbin and Raon who are so excited to open the photo album.

“Okay whatever,” Jiwon said in defeat, still fake sulking as he watches the two people he adores the most squealing as they see the pictures in the album.

“Oh my Gooood, look at how small you were. You were so chubby I would bite those cheeks,” Hanbin said. He is opening the photo album while sitting on the carpeted floor, with Raon sits beside him—also laughing as if he understands what older people are speaking about.

From where Jiwon sits, he can see how big Hanbin’s smile is. How excitement looks so good on him, and how after years and years, the feeling he has for the younger man only gets deeper. This is what he was fighting for—what _they_ were fighting for so far, and it felt like they have struggled so much and now it’s time for them to rest the fight and be happy.

It’s amazing how days with Hanbin always feel like gifts, like something they get as rewards for all the fight they have continuously fought.

That finally Hanbin can smile with ease. Surrounded by people who love him without reason or condition.

“Awww so this was when the big scar on his forehead happened,” Hanbin said, successfully pulls Jiwon from his thought. He always gets too sentimental sometimes, especially when he is watching Hanbin be with his family—being a part of it so effortlessly.

Jiwon then sees their mother walks towards Hanbin and takes a seat too, looking at the picture that Hanbin showed. It is the picture of him with a bandage on his forehead just between his eyebrows. She smiles too then, remembering the memories of their old days.

“Ah, yes… At this age Jiwon always followed his Hyung everywhere, and his feet were still so small he couldn’t catch up. He fell at the yard and hit his head on the ground. There were sooo much blood and he was crying sooo hard.” His mother said, in her own unique way.

“I don’t remember that at all,” Jiwon said, matter of factly.

“Oh, I do,” His brother then said, joining them to sit on the floor. “…I think you were two… right Ma?”

Jiwon had heard this story a few times, but it is more fascinating how Hanbin and Raon listen to it very curiously. Jiwon just finds them very adorable.

“…he always followed me around, like, I was five, right, so I played soccer and I ride bikes with my friends but he just loved chasing me.”

The atmosphere is very light and cheerful, and they really are laughing when thinking about Jiwon’s misery as a youngest child in the house.

“Appa, bad!” Raon said, earning laughter from all of them, even Jiwon and his Hyung.

“Right, he was bad. I didn’t remember anything… but he was bad.” Jiwon said, faking a teary face so Raon will pity him—and somehow that works like a charm. The little boy comes at him and hugs him immediately, earning coos from the rest of the family.

“Hey I gave you Pooh as an apology! Don’t forget that!”

“Aaaahhh…,” Hanbin said, “…so this is how he got that Pooh. Oh my God, do you guys know how Pooh made a chaos when we first moved to Calgary? Jiwon rummaged through _every_ bags and boxes. I think he cried a little, thinking that we left it in Ulsan.”

Even Raon laughed who now sits on Jiwon’s lap laughs to that story.

“He’s family, okay!!”

“Oh, this one is cute too,” Hanbin said, looking at a particular picture where Jiwon was like four years old, with his brother, mother, and grandmother, “…Ma is so pretty, wow…” Hanbin said, half teasing their mother, earning a soft slap and a giggle. “…what’s with this hand, though? Were you trying to give a thumb up?”

Jiwon laughs a little, “I don’t remember.”

“Your face doesn’t change at all,” Hanbin tries to compare his look with the picture, “…try to smile like this.”

And so, Jiwon did. Hanbin laughs again to that, saying that Jiwon was very cute when he was little. What’s cuter is that Raon, who is still sitting on Jiwon’s lap, making that face as well, giving even louder reaction from Hanbin.

“Oh boy you are definitely the cutest!” he said—and the little boy jumps on Jiwon’s lap because he had just earned a compliment from one of his most favorite people.

Jiwon loves it when two of his favorite people are being cute like this with each other.

“Jiwon, wanna help me and your sister cook dinner?” their mother said, while his sister in law is already walking towards the kitchen.

“Yes! I’m coming.”

He then kisses the top of his nephew’s head and helps him stand up from his lap, earning a soft protest but Jiwon just laughs it off.

“I gotta cook dinner, dude. Go play with your uncle Hanbin, alright?”

With that, the little boy runs towards Hanbin and moves to sit on his lap instead.

“Uncle Hanbin, I will show you my Lego!”

.

.

.

“I like seeing Hanbin like this, look at his cheeks, he’s gaining weight.” Their mother said while supervising Jiwon who is now mixing seasoning in a small bowl.

“Yes, the last time you guys were here, like a few months ago he was still very skinny. I am worried that you guys don’t eat well in Calgary.” His sister in law said while chopping some ingredients.

“I know,” Jiwon said, half smiling, “…I sort of make him eat a lot. Also, I might as well be a chef now for my skill in cooking. Right Ma?”

She then playfully nudges Jiwon’s face, looking very doubtful of what he is saying. “Let’s just pray the _samgyetang_ you are cooking is edible.”

“It’s good! It’s Hanbin’s favorite, he can eat the entire chicken all by himself now.”

“Ah, it’s good. I am so relieved.” She said, moving to the sink and washing the vegetables there. “When you two moved to Canada I was afraid that you will always eat junk food. Especially Hanbin, he ate so little. It’s good now that both of you can cook proper meals.”

Jiwon knows that their mother always worries about all of them, especially Hanbin and Jiwon in Calgary. At the first month they moved, their mother called them every day, only to make sure that they were eating good and not relying on some fast food restaurants. She began to trust them more as they always sent the pictures of things the cook through chats, so their mother at least felt relieved that they were actually eating like normal human beings in a foreign country.

“Is Hanbin still very busy? I heard heart surgeons never really rest.” His sister in law is tasting the seasoning that Jiwon mixed, and then nods in approval. “…whoa, you’re good.”

Jiwon laughs at the compliment—a victorious laugh. He takes pride on his cooking skill now, even though at first he learned how to cook only so Hanbin could eat more nutritious home-made meal, now he actually gets addicted to it that he always makes experiments in new menus he found in internet.

“Well… he’s still busy, but the hospital where he works is very big, so they have many surgeons. He still gets enough off days, its good.” Jiwon opened the lid of the _samgyetang_ pot, “…Ma, is this cooking well enough? I have never cooked this much.”

Their mother just nods when she looked at the inside of the pot, so Jiwon closes the lid again.

“It’s very good to hear… So I can come back to Seoul peacefully after a week, knowing that all my children are good.”

“Ma, you haven’t even asked about me! Only Hanbin this, Hanbin that.” Jiwon said, being sulky for real right now.

Both his mother and sister in law are laughing with Jiwon’s little tantrum—probably grossed out because a grown man still sulk like that to his mother.

“You don’t know? Since Hanbin came into this family you’re not our maknae anymore. He is.” His sister in law said, letting out an evil laugh. It doesn’t help that his mother also laughs the same way too, seeing how dejected Jiwon looks.

“That makes me sad!” he said then, but his mother just ruffles his hair like he is a toddler.

But what Jiwon doesn’t say is how glad he is that his family accepts Hanbin so warmly, and he actually doesn’t mind that they treat Hanbin better than him. Hanbin deserves a big family that loves him the way he is, and giving it to him continuously has been one of Jiwon’s priority. It might not make up for all the times he had lost with his own family—but now they are loving him so much and Jiwon can actually see how happy Hanbin is.

In this world, honestly, nothing Jiwon ever wishes more than that.

.

.

.

“Hey, baby…” Jiwon whispers to the sleeping Hanbin on the couch—he had fallen asleep while they were watching the video of Raon’s taekwondo exam. Everyone else have moved to their own rooms, and the main lamp on the living room has been switched off. “…let’s move to the bedroom, yeah?”

The younger man cracks his eyelids open a little, still looking confused as he looks at Jiwon. He then tries to look around, seeing if there are more people in the room other than the two of them, probably a little bit confused too since the light is already dim.

“…nobody’s here, everyone already sleeps.” He said. Hanbin just closes his eyes again and then lifts his hands to stretch his limbs. Jiwon finds it so adorable when Hanbin does that, especially when his hair is very wild and messy—so then Jiwon bows down to plant chaste kisses on his cheeks.

“Carry me,” he then said, voice still rough of sleep. Jiwon laughs when he hears that, while still kissing Hanbin.

“You want me to carry your chubby ass?”

Hanbin just nodded, really just like how Soseji would act when he is sleepy and asking for a belly rub.

“You will give me back pain,” Jiwon said—teasing him. But Hanbin doesn’t even take that seriously. He knows Jiwon too well.

“But you’re strong.” He said, still with that tiny cracked voice, and his eyes are still barely open.

Jiwon plants a final peck on his lips, “You’re right. Let’s go.” 

Jiwon then moves to slip his hand under Hanbin’s back and thigh—it’s already like a habit as this point, especially in Calgary, Soseji will just follow them from behind if this happen. It’s harder in their home, honestly, since he needs to carry Hanbin to their room upstairs.

“Wait, wait!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

Jiwon is about to get panic at first but when he sees that Hanbin smiling, he knows nothing is wrong.

Again, habit.

“Kiss me.”

Jiwon laughs at that—they haven’t really kissed? There are family around and they don’t really do that in front of them. The day before they were too tired because of the long flight from Calgary to Virginia. Today they were busy making a lot of kimchi, for his brother’s family and to be sent to Calgary too through expedition.

Jiwon then gives him a little peck on the lips, but obviously it’s not the kiss Hanbin is asking for.

“A little bit more.” He said, his voice is heavy yet whiny.

“Let’s get to the room first,” Jiwon said as he walks faster towards the guest room and kicks the door close. Jiwon then carefully places Hanbin on the bed, and without wasting any second, he immediately lays himself on top of Hanbin, using both of his elbows as support so he doesn’t completely crush the slightly smaller man.

Hanbin laughs then, but still trying to keep his voice down because their room is exactly next to their mother’s room. They cannot do anything dirty, not when their mother is a very light sleeper.

“I will kiss you just a little more,” Jiwon said, running his fingers through Hanbin’s slightly longer black hair and push it back.

Hanbin smiles, nodding his head as he just waits for Jiwon to move and kisses him—so he does. Jiwon kisses him tenderly, like he is taking his time with it, moving his lips and swallow Hanbin slowly, bit by bit. Hanbin kisses back just as softly, inserting his tongue to the kiss that Jiwon just welcomed eagerly. Their noses bump but as usual they just ignore it, busy feeling each other as if it has been a long time.

Jiwon pulls away first, sealing the kiss with a heavy peck that makes Hanbin smile. So then he kisses him again, knowing that Hanbin loves it when Jiwon kisses his smile like that.

“Let’s sleep,” Jiwon said, rolling his body to the other side of the bed and slowly maneuvers to take the blanket with his feet. He then covers both his and Hanbin’s body with the slightly thick blanket up to Hanbin’s shoulder, then proceeds to pull his husband as close as possible, making him the little spoon.

Jiwon whispers a good night, then moves to kiss Hanbin’s nape and settles there. It’s nice like this, Jiwon thinks, he can feel Hanbin’s heat radiating as he holds him close. It feels like he is protecting Hanbin like this, and Hanbin is so small in his hold that he fits just perfectly there.

“I wish I can show you my baby pictures too,”

Hanbin’s voice is tiny, still heavy with sleep and Jiwon just knows that he is talking with eyes closed.

“…they are all in the old house. I don’t even think my mom has it.”

Jiwon can sense worries and a little distress in Hanbin’s voice, so he moves to plant kisses on Hanbin’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, baby, don’t think so much about it.” Jiwon runs his hand up and down Hanbin’s upper arm, trying to calm him down so he doesn’t even think about it more.

It still makes Jiwon sad that sometimes Hanbin still has things he regrets about. And it’s usually all those things that Hanbin cannot control, so sometimes they are eating him slowly. But Jiwon is always quick to catch them now, he had learned about all of this and how to handle it. How to handle Hanbin and his worries.

Hanbin then takes one of Jiwon’s hand and then places it on his own stomach, making Jiwon hugs him even closer. He then covers Jiwon’s hand with his own, tangling their fingers together.

“I love you so much,” Hanbin then said. Almost quietly, but Jiwon can hear it very clearly. Jiwon then hugs Hanbin closer, if it’s even possible. “…thank you for bringing me into a big and happy family.”

At that moment, Jiwon’s chest feels like it’s full—like there are so much love there and it cannot even contain them anymore. There are no seconds that Jiwon spend without being thankful that they have arrived here, in a time where things are better, if not easier. That when they see and feel the happiness right now, those days of struggles seem worth every fight.

Jiwon then inhales Hanbin’s shampoo scent, filling his lungs with the familiar smell that can always calm him down.

“I love you so much too.”

Jiwon closes his eyes then, feeling the rise and fall of Hanbin’s breath as the younger starts drifting to sleep too.

“Also, Ji…”

“Hmm?” Jiwon is really about to fall asleep anytime.

“…we can make your favorite spicy kimchi at home, I learned today and I know how it tastes now. I will try make them for you.”

Jiwon opens his eyes and lifts his head a little to see Hanbin—who apparently wasn’t even closing his eyes. Probably due to the excitement of making the spicy kimchi in Calgary.

“Was that why you insisted on eating it?”

Hanbin laughs a little, knowing how silly it may sound.

“Yes.” He said, and Jiwon just knows that he is smiling when saying that.

With that, Jiwon just tighten his hold on Hanbin until the younger squeals a little bit loudly. Sometimes Jiwon has this feeling like eating Hanbin, as in like, eating him and keep him in his belly. But every time, he just settles with biting his cheeks or hugging the life out of him. It’s just enough for now. Jiwon can always swallows him whole later.

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END

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Wohooo 4.5K for your Monday?

PURELY SELF INDULGENT, so I don’t know what to expect from this.

leave me some thought on [@twitter](https://twitter.com/runsoftbin) and [@curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/runsoftbin), because i want to be loved 

So, until next updates!!! Keep safe yall

**Author's Note:**

> where the hell is kim hanbin?!!  
> miss him like i could dye


End file.
